Board of Trustees

Guiding the Direction of the University

Tennessee State University is governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of 10 voting members – eight appointed and approved by the Governor and ratified by the Tennessee General Assembly, one faculty member appointed by TSU’s Faculty Senate, and one student appointed by the TSU Board of Trustees. The university president is a non-voting, ex-officio member. The board is directly responsible for the governance, supervision, strategic direction, fiscal affairs and business operations of the university.

Trustees


TSU’s approved board nominees are:

  • Deborah Cole, president and CEO, Citizens Savings Bank & Trust Co.
  • Stephen Corbeil, president, TriStar Division of Hospital Corporation of America
  • Bill Freeman, chairman, Freeman Webb, Inc., a real estate development firm based in Nashville
  • Richard Allen Lewis, Sr., owner, Lewis & Wright Funeral Home, which has served the greater Nashville community for over 50 years
  • Pam Martin, president, Cushion Employer Services and 2014 appointee to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission
  • Obie McKenzie, managing director, BlackRock, Inc. and founding board member, National Association of Securities Professionals
  • Edith Peterson Mitchell, clinical professor of Medicine and Medical Oncology for the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University, and current president of the National Medical Association
  • Bishop Joseph Walker III, pastor, Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Nashville, and presiding bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International